Yellow
by Imperio-youloveme
Summary: "And she's single like you, Uncle Sasuke. Right, Anikka-Sensei? You said you didn't have a boyfriend, right? And you like dogs, so you and Uncle Sasuke are perfect for each other." Hana concluded with a smile that could only be deemed too innocent to actually pass as such.


It was strange, really. Or, rather, she was strange, he mused as he watched her animatedly trying to convince a pack of six year olds that the vegetables in front of them were good for them.

He supposed the 'it' was the idea that he found her as interesting as he did. She wasn't particularly beautiful to look at, what with the bright yellow dress and the polka-dotted socks peeking out of the clunky combat boots she was wearing, she was more of a mess than anything, Sasuke decided. What made her even stranger to look at was the conviction in her words as she vehemently argued with a short boy in the front row about the benefits of broccoli. Never mind the fact that she was the teacher, and the boy her six year old student, so any argument should not even be occurring.

Sasuke watched through the small window on the door as she herself took a big bite out of the stump of broccoli and smiled at the kids, motioning for them to do the same. He saw as only a handful obeyed while the others, including the argumentative boy in the front row, shook their heads and refused to do so. He was amused to watch as his own niece, a girl in a navy blue sweater and jeans in the back poked at the stub of broccoli in front of her, looked around to see if anybody was watching, and took a tentative lick of it before grimacing and throwing back onto the paper plate in front of her.

Just as the woman in the yellow dress was about to open her mouth to admonish the students that had not tried the vegetable, the bell rang signaling the end of the day. With the sudden ring, Sasuke could only watch as what could only be described as utter chaos developed right in front of him. Broccoli went flying as twenty or so kids jumped up, shoving crayons and papers into backpacks hurriedly, completely ignoring the woman in the front yelling reminders about homework, eating vegetables, and about pushing in their chairs.

Within a few minutes, the chaos that had sprouted in an instant, died down just as fast, leaving the woman in the yellow dress sighing and looking at the mess in front of her, and his own niece, slowly and neatly put her supplies away.

"Do you need any help, Hana-chan?" The woman asked the little girl as she walked towards her.

The little girl shook her head no and kept with her task at hand.

"Well….are you staying after school with me again, Hana-chan?" Without waiting for an answer, the woman made her way toward her desk, opened a drawer, and took out a few clear lunch bags with an assortment of snacks. "I have snacks if you're hungry. You can eat while I clean up the uneaten broccoli. Honestly, it's not as bad as you guys make it out to be." The last part was not aimed at the little girl, but she smiled at her teacher all the same.

"Thank you. I think I might only stay for a little bit, though. My uncle is picking me up today." Hana said as she sorted through the clear bags, settling on a bag full of pretzels.

Sasuke decided to make his entrance then, quietly slipping in through the opened door.

"Is your dad out of town again? He must be a pretty busy man, your dad." The teacher commented from below a table, where she was trying to pick up the remnants of the broccoli.

"I don't think it is any of your business to know the business of my brother, Sensei." Sasuke spoke, making the girl hit her head against the bottom of the table, and for his niece to run straight into him.

"Uncle Sasuke! You came early! Daddy said you might be late, but you weren't!"

Sasuke smiled down at his niece, but quickly turned his attention to the woman slowly raising herself off the floor.

"Sorry. I wasn't trying to pry or anything, Mr…" The woman trailed off, giving him a look, waiting for his name.

"He's my Uncle Sasuke." Hana proclaimed before Sasuke had a chance to respond. "You can call him Sasuke because I don't think he can be your uncle, Anikka-Sensei. He can call you Sasuke, right Uncle Sasuke?"

Black eyes stared right up at him, waiting for his response. He turned his attention to the amused gray eyes of the woman in the yellow dress. "You can call me Sasuke."

The woman smiled and extended her hand towards him. "You can call me Anikka," she said, and Sasuke raised a brow at her hand. She looked down, coming to face the hands half green with broccoli pieces and a thin layer of dirt from having been on the floor, scraping with her hands any broccoli remnants. Anikka blushed to the roots of her black hair, and quickly wiped the backs of her hands into the back of her dress.

"Kids," she provided as an explanation with a sheepish chuckle.

Sasuke nodded only out of politeness, rather than understanding.

"He's single," Piped Hana from his side, making Sasuke abruptly turn towards his devilishly smirking niece.

Sasuke looked at Anikka next, who looked even redder than before and who was pointedly avoiding his gaze.

"He also likes dogs. He has one, his name is Rori-kun, and he's a bulldog. You like dogs, right, Anikka-Sensei?"

The woman looked downright mortified by the conversation, and while Sasuke himself was embarrassed himself, he could not help but find her reactions quite amusing.

"I like dogs too, Hana." Anikka diplomatically responded.

"And she's single like you, Uncle Sasuke. Right, Anikka-Sensei? You said you didn't have a boyfriend, right? And you like dogs, so you and Uncle Sasuke are perfect for each other." Hana concluded with a smile that could only be deemed too innocent to actually pass as such.

"Hana-chan, I don't think-I just… It's a little inappropriate for you to be trying to…um… Anyway, your Uncle Sasuke probably doesn't like it when you do this." Anikka said, blush now spreading towards her collar bone and slowly disappearing into the neckline of her yellow dress, Sasuke noticed.

"But, Uncle Sasuke! Daddy said that you liked Anikka-Sensei!" Hana proclaimed, and Sasuke swore she saw the devil in his nieces' eyes.

_Of course_, Sasuke thought. He knew the moment his brother asked him to pick up his daughter from school that something was going on. His brother never missed picking his daughter up, even if he was late most of the time. Sasuke knew for a fact Itachi tried to at least have that time with his daughter each day, and he found it strange that his brother had asked him to do something that he so cherished under the feeble pretense of not feeling well. Sasuke knew his brother, and Itachi was not the kind of man to not do something because of a simple headache.

Then there was the fact that he had never even met the woman in front of him before. How could Itachi decide that the woman was his 'perfect match' simply because she liked dogs and was single. Had Itachi not seen what she was wearing? A bright yellow dress and combat boots with polka-dotted socks could hardly be considered the sign of a well groomed woman, something Sasuke looked for in any prospect; he doubted her outfits would be any more modest than yellow and clunky shoes on any other day. And he couldn't even begin to talk about the monstrosity of her hair. _Seriously_, Sasuke thought, _would it kill her to run a comb through that nest of hair? _

"I… Your Uncle and I have never even met, Hana-chan." Anikka seemed to have been the first one to recover, or at least gain full control of her tongue as Sasuke barely nodded in consent to her statement.

"But you have now! And Daddy said that all you had to do was meet and you would fall in love and get married and have kids so I can have cousins and you would live happily ever after! Daddy said that when he first met my mommy, he knew right away that he was going to marry her and have me and live happily ever after… And even though she's in heaven, my Daddy says he still loves her and you have to get together with my Uncle Sasuke because I want cousins, and Daddy said I could have ice scream for dinner the rest of the week if you and Uncle Sasuke go on a date like in the movies!" Hana rushed through her speech, breathing heavily after it.

Sasuke raised an amused eyebrow when his niece's face turned from one of triumph to horror. "Oh no! Daddy said I couldn't say that he was bribing me with ice scream! Please don't tell him, Uncle Sasuke!"

Sasuke nodded his head in consent and turned towards Anikka, who looked like she would faint any second now. "You won't tell Daddy either, right, Anikka-Sensei?"

Anikka nodded her head dazedly, staring into the background with glazed eyes, and a bright red face.

Hana looked at her for a few seconds, smiled deviously up at her uncle, and said, "You'll also go on a date with my Uncle Sasuke, right, Anikka-Sensei?"

Anikka nodded again, mumbling a yes hurridly.

Although Sasuke knew he should be angry at the whole ordeal, he could not bring himself to feel anything other than amusement at Anikka's distraction. He had to admit, he was angry at his brother, and he would have to talk to him later on, maybe blackmail him into going into all the board meetings Sasuke hated for putting him through this. Yet, at the moment, he let himself be amused.

"Yay!" Hana exclaimed, taking Anikka's still dirty hand in her smaller one dragging her towards the teacher's desk, talking animatedly about dinner, and how Anikka was invited and they would eat ice cream, and she and Sasuke would kiss and get married and have tons of kids that Hana could play with and call cousins. Anikka, in turn, woke from her stupor and only looked at him with a horrified expression.

And while Anikka did join Hana, Itachi and Sasuke for dinner that night, they did not have ice cream as the main course, rather only as dessert. Sasuke and Anikka did not kiss, and, in fact, did not marry or conceive any children that night, either.

That part actually came a few years later, much to Hana's immediate disappointment, but eventual giddiness.


End file.
